It was back in summer 2001, when I finally bought a player. Think the first movies I rented were Enemy At The Gates & Titan A.E.
I think the first DVD I bought was The Phantom Menace( along with several others), when it came out that fall.

For all the debate about the money spent on DVDs vs. buying Blu-ray, and is it worth it - I was buying laserdiscs back in the 90's, where the price on a new release could be anywhere from $40 to $90 & up. I only bought a dozen of them because they cost so much, but I wanted to watch movies letterboxed in their true format(VHS did that infrequently.) And the picture quality was vastly better than VHS; DVD was a bit better, but much smaller & more interactive & cost the same as VHS! I was in heaven for years.
Now, until DVD is obsolete, I'm sticking with it.

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"I'm not smart so much as I am not dumb." - Harlan Ellison